Today, I wish not to make arguments in favor of - or against - President Trump or his policies.
People are entitled to love or hate the President and his policies and voice their opinions loudly should they so choose.
But this dangerous element of Neo-Mccarthyism surrounding President Trump and anything that can even be remotely tied to him is toxic and needs to stop. Leading up to the Superbowl, I read an op-ed in USA Today that argued Tom Brady had a duty to speak out against Donald Trump because everybody knows they are friends and at one point, the media saw a Make America Great Again hat in his locker. Brady never publicly wore the hat or endorsed Trump's policy positions and repeatedly said he did not want to talk politics. He was harassed, anyway.
Jimmy Fallon, who hosts a goody comedy show, was eviscerated for merely having Trump on his show and not aggressively questioning him like a prosecuting attorney.
Steve Harvey met with Trump to discuss improving living conditions for black people in the inner-cities. Harvey said that regardless of who the president is, his goal is to help poor black people improve their lives and if he has a chance to do that, he should take a "seat at the table." This got him branded an "Uncle Tom."
Taylor Swift, who has said nothing supportive of Trump whatsoever, has been excoriated for simply refusing to speak out against Trump. Sadly, it hasn't stopped there. People are ending friendships and disowning family members. Horrific verbal assaults are being levelled at people for even the slightest connection to Trump (Your mother's best friend's sister's gardener's accountant's doorman once opened a door at a Trump Hotel? NAZI!!!!!)
Now, we have Nordstrom giving into pressure from the same mob and refusing to sell Ivanka Trump's products, despite the fact that as recently as a few months ago the company publicly claimed those products were making them money. This follows an incident in December where a man was kicked off an airplane for berating Ivanka in front of her husband and children for the wrongdoing of being Donald Trump's daughter.
I will reiterate: If you hate Donald Trump and his policies that is fine. In fact, it is your right as an American. However, bullying his daughter simply for having the audacity to love her father and support him should be a bridge too far for anybody.
My friend Kellyanne Conway obviously thought so when she lashed out at Nordstrom and urged people to buy Ivanka's products. I am not going to pretend to be an expert on the ethics rules, but it seems to me that if we cannot take a step back and understand the circumstances in context - that Kellyane was merely defending Ivanka from what she thought was an unfair attack - then we have really let the insanity of the current political climate get the better of us.
I've known Kellyanne a long time and I promise you, she was merely reacting like a mama bear defending one of her cubs, not attempting to turn the White House into QVC.
Kellyanne was right to defend Ivanka, and whatever anybody's thoughts are on President Trump, bullying people like this is not right. Shutting down clothing lines, ending friendships, blacklisting celebrities, treating anybody associated with President Trump in any way as not just wrong but evil....... if we aren't careful, that can very easily lead us down a very bad road.
I hope and pray we can come together as a nation before this escalates completely out of control.